Standing Up For the Freedom Not To Stand

In an attempt to take Baltimore, the British attacked Fort McHenry, which protected the harbor.

Bombs were soon bursting in air, rockets were glaring, and all in all it was a moment of great historical interest. During the bombardment, a young lawyer named Francis Off Key [sic] wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner", and when, by the dawn's early light, the British heard it sung, they fled in terror.

 

— humorist Richard Armour

It All Started With Columbus

 

 

The NFL announced that all players who are on the field when the national anthem is heard before a game must stand and show respect or can choose to remain in the locker room without penalty

 

Li’l Donnie Trump, of course, weighed in on that.  

 

“Well, I think that’s good. I don’t think people should be staying in locker rooms. But still, I think it’s good. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem, or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem, and the NFL owners did the right thing.”  

 

This whole controversy over players kneeling during National Anthem started in 2016 when Colin Kaepernick, then a quarterback with the 49ers, first refused to stand as a lone protest of police brutality against black Americans and racial oppression. Others joined the protests.

 

Since that time, Trump has repeatedly criticized this kneeling in protest, calling it “disgraceful” and referring to the protestors as “sons of bitches” who should be fired. 

 

It really plays well with Trump’s base. I have zero respect for Li’l Donnie but I will give him this: the son of a bitch knows his audience.

 

Taking a knee during the national anthem has been vilified as a direct assault on our country and even as an action of disrespect against ours troops. The core of Trump’s hyper nationalist under educated white constituency, loyalty to America means devotions to its symbols.

 

Except the whole point of our country’s birth in 1776 was to be free of autocratic rule. Being told to stand for a national anthem under penalty for not doing so is the complete antithesis of what America is supposed to stand for.

 

If you think the men and women of our military put their lives on the line to force allegiance to a song or a flag or whatever is sadly not appreciating what these men and women are putting their lives on the line for.

 

To be American is to be free. And that means the freedom to stand up and say, sometimes this country sucks. And to say that without being tossed in jail or put to death.

 

What makes America great is that it allows Colin Kaepernick to be free to not stand for its anthem.

 

What makes America great is that it allows Colin Kaepernick to be free to protest that hey, maybe we can do better.

 

What the men and women of our military put their lives on the line for, what the flag stands for, what our anthem celebrates is the freedom to resist those who would oppress us, who would deprive us of our freedom. When America gets it wrong, we have the power to demand to make it right. And when America gets it right, it's because its people are free to make it right.

And Li’l Donnie Trump, you dumb fuck, if you don’t or can’t understand that, maybe you shouldn’t be in the country. 

 

 

THIS JUST IN: Trump’s pulled out of the summit meeting with Kim Jung Un of North Korea?

 

We’ll take a look at this latest shit in a subsequent post.